Board members for the Rock Island-Milan School District violated the Illinois Open Meetings Act when they met behind closed doors to discuss a $30,000 consulting contract for Superintendent Rick Loy's wife, according to an attorney for the Illinois Press Association.

The district maintains it was within its legal limits because the law allows school boards to go into closed session to discuss "the appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body or legal counsel."

However, the law also defines employees as "a person employed by a public body whose relationship with the public body constitutes an employer-employee relationship ... and who is not an independent contractor."

Donald Craven, general counsel for the Illinois Press Association, said the board was in violation during its Tuesday meeting when it discussed Carol Loy's contract for services. The closed session also included a discussion on a $40,500 consulting contract for Carmine Draud to train high school administrators and a $35,000 contract for Dee McLeod-McCann to be a librarian at Edison and Washington junior high schools. All items were on the board's public consent agenda before the meeting, but board member Linda Dothard asked to have them removed for private discussion.

Board members approved all three contracts when they emerged from closed doors after less than 30 minutes.

"The vote was done legally, but the discussion was done illegally," Craven said. "The act specifically provides that the reason for the open meetings act is to allow the public to hear the deliberation as well as watch any determination of the issues that come before the board."

Board President William Cleaver, who also is a lawyer, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Rick Loy said district leaders called the district's attorney, Sherri Anderson, before the meeting. She told them they were within legal limits because the media singled out Carol Loy as being considered for employment. Therefore, it was a personnel issue.

However, that doesn't matter, Craven said.

"They aren't talking about this person as an employee," he said. "They are talking about them as a consultant. Just because the media has covered it, it doesn't allow them to go into closed session to talk about it."

The Quad-City Times delivered Freedom of Information Act requests Wednesday to Rick Loy and Cleaver, asking them to release a copy of the tape from the closed-door meeting. Law requires that districts record such sessions.

Loy said he and the board will consult with their attorneys before responding to the request. He expected them to make a decision before the end of the week.

A Quad-City Times reporter objected to the board's decision to go into closed session during the meeting, saying the issue wasn't allowed to be discussed in closed session under state law. However, Cleaver said it was an employment matter and then closed the meeting to the public.

No other candidates were considered for the contract given to Carol Loy. She will receive $300 a day for as many as 100 days this coming school year to help build curriculum and train teachers at the new Center for Math and Science, which opens in August.

Carol Loy retired June 30 from a central administration position, in which she did similar work and earned $74,966 last school year, according to information obtained from the school system through a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The information also showed she started the position two years after her husband became superintendent and held it for three years.

Rick Loy will earn $177,304 this school year as superintendent, a figure the board approved Tuesday night. It is a $10,036 -or 5.9 percent - raise from his salary last year, information from the FOI request showed.