Christian County has been at the front of the culture wars for well over a year. Attempts to remove books from the Nixa School District made national news in 2023. Now, ongoing calls to label and remove materials have also reshaped the county’s public library.
This week during their regular monthly meeting, the Board of Trustees for the Christian County Public Library voted to reorganize its officers. The board removed Allyson Tuckness from the role of Board President and elected Echo Alexzander to the role.
It comes after over a year of sustained pressure in public meetings and online by members of the public who self-describe as Christian conservatives and have called for the labeling and removal of LGBTQ+ material that they have deemed anti-Christian and called “pornographic.” Many online and in public meetings have directly criticized former Board President Tuckness.
And it comes just a month after a new trustee was appointed to the board by the Christian County Commission, an appointment many in the public have perceived as tipping the scales in the ideology of the board.
This is a developing story. Christian County Library District Executive Director Renee Brumett was out of the office and unable to take questions from KSMU Wednesday morning. KSMU has reached out to members of the board and will be filing additional reporting as additional information and perspectives become available.