Copies of the relevant text from various official BSA publications
General Youth Protection & Safe Scouting Rules:
One-on-one contact between adult leaders and youth members is prohibited …
- In situations requiring a personal conference, the meeting is to be conducted with the knowledge and in view of other adults and/or youth.
- Private online communications (texting, phone calls, chat, IM, etc.) must include another registered leader or parent.
- From Guide to Save Scouting 34416 Rev 2019, page 1 (no different than online version updated in January 2020)
Scoutmaster conferences:
General Situation – Scoutmaster conferences are meant to be face-to-face, personal experiences. … Scoutmaster conferences should be held with a level of privacy acceptable under the BSA’s rules regarding Youth Protection. Parents or guardians and other Scouts within hearing range of the conversation may influence the Scout’s participation. For this reason, the conferences should not be held in an online setting. (Is says “should not”; it does NOT say “may not”; see Special Situation below)
- From Guide to Advancement 2019
Special Situation – By employing common sense and creative solutions, many requirements–even Scoutmaster conferences–can be fulfilled through videoconferencing or telephone calls.
- From COVID-19 FAQ https://www.scouting.org/coronavirus/covid-19-faq/
Boards of Review:
General Situation – … The number of “observers” at a board of review should … be minimized. … The Scout’s parents, relatives, or guardians should not be in attendance in any capacity …
Special Situation – … it is permissible to use videoconferencing. If such boards of review are held, however, they must be conducted according to the following requirements.
- All members of the board of review must be visible to the Scout, and any observers with the Scout must be visible to the members of the board of review. No one within hearing range on either side shall be off-camera. … Observers should be minimized for any board of review, and this applies especially to videoconference reviews.
- For Scouts under the age of 18, a parent or guardian of the Scout, or two registered adult leaders as required by the Guide to Safe Scouting … who are familiar with these requirements for videoconference boards of review, must be directly present with the Scout at the beginning of the conference. … Their role is to verify that the Scout is in a safe environment and that the board of review appears to be in compliance with these requirements. Once all the members of the board of review are present on their end of the call and introductions are completed, and the review is about to begin, anyone present with the Scout must leave the room or move out of hearing distance unless they have specifically been approved to remain as observers. ….
- Once the review process has been concluded, if the Scout is under age 18, the Scout’s parent or guardian, or two registered adult leaders must rejoin the Scout. … Once this is done, the board members end the call and sign off.
- From Guide to Advancement 2019 – https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/boards-of-review/#8016
Steve Conn’s personal interpretation and simplification of the rules
- No 1on1 contact, ever.
- SMC – use a 3-way video call; Scoutmaster alone, 2nd registered Scouter alone, & Scout alone with no one within hearing range of the Scout.
- BOR – use a 4 to 7-way video call; 3-6 adults each alone, Scout starts with a parent in the room on camera, when the review begins the parent exist the room and is NOT with audio range, at the end the parent returns for the closing of the review.