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During Thursday’s meeting, the Troup County School Board voted to update its internet acceptable use policy for employees.

The document essentially outlines what employees can do via electronic communication, with a heavy focus on social media.

The board joked at one point that the policy could probably be updated every day, which is probably true given how fast technology changes.

The policy hadn’t been updated since 2013 and actually still listed MySpace as an example of a social media website.

It was removed for references to TikTok and Instagram (Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter and LinkedIn were already in the policy).

The most important part of the update was that it is realistic.

For instance, the previous policy said employees should keep their personal social media pages private to prevent students from accessing them.

That probably was possible in 2013, but it’s pretty difficult to do in 2020 where everyone has a social media presence.

In some cases, teachers and administrators post important announcements to their own social media pages, as they know that parents and students are following them there.

Each school also has a social media page where important announcements are made. We’re guessing more people get messages there than on the actual TCSS website or school websites.

This policy badly needed an update, and we’re glad Human Resources Director Derek Pitts and others took the time to get it one.