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![handle is hein.sag/sagde0007 and id is 1 raw text is: February 5, 2009
The Honorable Bruce C. Ennis
State Senator
Legislative Hall
P.O. Box 1401
Dover, DE 19903
Re: Delaware State Fire School Records
Dear Senator Ennis:
You have asked for an Attorney General's opinion as to whether the training
records for courses taken at the Delaware State Fire School are public records subject to
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 29 Del. C. ch. 100. We have
viewed an example of the records in question, which consists of a list of the courses the
participant took at the Delaware State Fire School, showing the number of hours taken
out of the number of hours available for each course. You have stated that the records are
maintained by the State Fire School and posted to each firefighter's company file,
which suggests that the records might be personnel or pupil records that are exempt from
public disclosure. However, our conclusion is that the Delaware State Fire School
training records are public records to which the public has a right of access.
The State Fire School is a public body subject to FOIA because it is established
by the General Assembly, pursuant to 16 Del. C. § 6613, and is supported by public
funds. 29 Del. C. § 10002(c). Public records are information of any kind ... compiled
or collected by a public body, relating in any way to public business, or in any way of
public interest, or in any way related to public purposes [.] 29 Del. C. § 10002(g). The
State Fire School records meet that definition, and therefore are to be made available to
the public unless they are exempted under one of the exceptions listed in paragraphs (1)
through (17) of 29 Del. C. § 10002(g). One of the enumerated exemptions is for any
personnel . . . or pupil file, the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of
personal privacy[.] 29 Del. C. § 10002(g)(1).
We do not need to decide whether the records are part of a personnel or pupil file
because we find that it is clear that there is nothing in the records which could arguably
result in an invasion of personal privacy. The relevant definition of invasion of privacy in
Delaware is, the publicizing of one's affairs with which the public has no legitimate
concern or the wrongful intrusion into one's private activities in such manner as to](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.sag/sagde0007&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)