Rights and Obligations

To be a student at Molkom Folk High School entails both rights and obligations. These are a few of them.

The Work Environment Act According to law, studying at a Folk High School is equivalent to working. You are represented by a student safety agent. That person will be provided with necessary training for the assignment.

Absence

All absence, regardless of reason, must be reported to the school office. Since folk high school is a non-compulsory school form, each student is responsible for his/her own studies. With a high level of absence you risk not obtaining a complete certificate for your program. But there are also other consequences that a high level of absence can lead to.

Consequenses of high level of absence If your absence is 25% or more than 30 hours in 3 weeks, a teacher will contact you and explain the consequenses of continued high absence. During the following 3 weeks your absence will be monitored. If the level is still high at the end of the 3 weeks you will receive a first warning in writing, informing you that continued high absence can lead to you being expelled from school. The second warning in writing will be issued to the student if there is no improvement regarding attendance after an additional 3 weeks. Here it will be clearly stated that attendance must improve within the next 3 weeks, or the student will be expelled.

Discrimination

Discrimination against the following is prohibited by Swedish law:

• Gender
• Gender identity/Sexual expression
• Ethnicity
• Religion or other beliefs
• Disabilities
• Sexual orientation
• Age

The school have an action plan concerning arangements to prevent discrimination.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

Molkom Folk High School is striving for a drug and alcohol-free environment. A good work environment is, according to The Work Environment Act, free of drugs and alcohol. For that reason, our school practice alcohol-free working weeks. Alcohol may not be stored or consumed within the school’s common capacities.

Possession of drugs or other chemical substances with similar effect is prohibited by law. On suspicion of drug offence Molkom Folk High School is required to report this to the police authorities. On suspicion of someone being under the influence we have the right to conduct unplanned drug and alcohol tests. Violations against the school’s drug and alcohol policy will result in provisions according to our action plan. The school’s headmaster will be informed and decide on possible suspension of the student.

Disabilities

Since Molkom Folk High School is a school with very long traditions, some of its buildings are only to a certain extent adjusted for people with disabilities. The school itself is partly adjusted for disabled people (for instance if you are wheelchair bound). The dormitories however, are not at present adjusted for students in wheelchairs.

Information Technology (IT) Policy

All staff and students are together responsible for maintaining a high standard for the use of our IT environment.

To use our IT system you have to be a registered student, a teacher, or other staff member. No external visitor may use the IT system without obtaining a permit. All registered users will be given a unique user name and a password, these are personal and may not be shared between users. All users are personally responsible for actions taken in their user account. All users also have to log out after using the system. All actions are logged to achieve traceability.

IT standard The IT unit is solely responsible for installing, configuring and purchasing IT related hard- or software. IT security The school provides you with computors that can be used during school hours. Only the IT unit and school management have access to the server room. No food or beverages are permitted near computors or related equipment. No activity that may endanger computors or related equipment are permitted. Do not leave work material or portable computor media at your work place after you have finished with your school work. All material used from external computor media or is downloaded from the internet have to be scanned for viruses before use.

All computors in the network have antivirus software installed, this may not be altered in any way. All external data communication goes through a firewall. All programs needed for network traffic are installed in the school’s computors. All traffic is being logged and non-approved traffic will be stopped.

IT Ethics

Users of the school’s IT system are representatives for Molkom Folk High School. Molkom Folk High School do not allow material in its IT system of illegal, racist, pornographic, discriminating, political or derogatory nature. It is not permitted to use the IT system for business acitivites or spamming (the sending of unsolicited messages).

Incidents and backup

Report incidents immediately to the IT unit. This includes faulty or damaged equipment, virus alerts or other defects in the IT system. All users are responsible for securing a backup of their personal documents and files. The school takes no responsibility for material or files on school computors or servers.

Questions and sanctions

Inappropriate use of the IT system can result in a temporal suspension from the IT system. Illegal use of the IT system will be reported to the police. Questions regarding this policy should be addressed to the school management or the IT unit. The school reserves its right to make changes concerning the IT policy at any time.

Harassment/Bullying

Molkom Folk High School does not tolerate any form of bullying, for instance psychological violence, harassment (including sexual harassment), and social exclusion between student and/or staff members.

Standards of Conduct

In order to provide a good educational environment it is essential that everybody takes responsibilities for the school’s facilities and inventories, show consideration, enables the option to work undisturbed and respects the school’s rule of a drug free environment.

• As a student you are obligated to attend and participate in school activities.
• No pets are allowed in school facilities.
• Smoking is only permitted outdoors in certain marked areas.
• Car parking is only permitted on the school’s parking lot. Note that some parking spaces are reserved for staff members.

A student who seriously violates the school’s standards of conduct, show up intoxicated by alcohol and/or drugs or in an otherwise disturbing manner, risk to be expelled from the dormitory and/or the school.

As a student you are liable to pay for damages as a result of carelessness on your behalf on school or dormitory facilities and inventory. For students staying in a dormitory there are additional rules and provisions.

These standards of conduct have been designed by the staff at Molkom Folk High School and decreed by the school’s headmaster. Proposals to change the standards of conduct should be presented in writing to the headmaster, who will then confer with the school’s staff and the student school board.

Confidentiality and Rules on Archiving

Archiving and the preserving of files are regulated by law. The handling of public access and confidentiality are regulated in The Principle of Public Access to Official Records and The Public Access and Secrecy Act,

Student Influence

The Swedish Folk High School is a free school form guided by broad-based goals and with few unified rules. Since 2014 a criteria for folk high schools to obtain government grants have been the schools’ development of their students legal rights, for instance by establishing rules and routines for decision making.

Evaluation

Molkom Folk High School work actively with ensuring the quality of the education, for instance by conducting both local and national evaluations with its students. As a student you will get feed-back on evalutions you have participated in.

To Appeal

If there is something you are not satisfied with, contact your assistant headmaster. If the assistant headmaster cannot solve the problem you will be guided further to the right person or place. If the problem still is not solved you can address your appeal to the school’s headmaster.

Payment Liability

Students are liable to pay school invoices on time. If you need additional time in order to pay, please contact the school accountant before the invoice’s expiration date. Remember that inability to pay is a valid reason for expelling a student from school.