TYLER –The Russell-Tyler-Ruthton school board voted not to approve Daynica Brown’s return as the RTR head volleyball coach at its monthly board meeting on Wednesday. The 5-2 vote to let Brown go came despite superintendent David Marlette and activities director Darren Baartman both recommending Brown.

Wednesday’s vote comes in the wake of volleyball parents Dan Ellefson and Shallyn Dybdahl, as well as RTR volleyball alumnus Janel Peterson, voicing concerns at the October board meeting about the culture Brown fostered with the volleyball team. They alleged that Brown curated a toxic environment for the athletes and that favoritism played a heavy role in team dynamics.

For Brown’s part, she said at Wednesday’s meeting that she believes her actions in the public eye spoke volumes to the positive culture of the team, and that the team’s success this season wouldn’t have been possible if she had not actively worked to create a positive environment.

Seven stakeholders had voiced concerns about the state of the RTR volleyball program since the end of the 2024 season, Marlette said.

Marlette added that he felt that any issues in the program could potentially have been fixed earlier had they been followed proper chain of command policy by being brought to Brown or Baartman, but recommended that Brown be given another year as head coach with a Plan of Assistance in place wherein specific items and corrective actions are identified before the start of the season. While he did not specify the items in need of correction, he said that they were all small issues that could be quickly corrected.

A replacement candidate for Brown is yet to be named.

Ted Kern was also approved by a 7-0 vote to return as football head coach at the meeting, as well as a unanimous approval for Sandy Carpenter as the head cheerleading coach. No candidate was presented for the RTR cross country coaching vacancy.