ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – This week, legal group Liberty Counsel announced that it sent a demand letter to Orange County Public Schools over a “Witchy Wednesday” video series at a local high school.
In a release, Liberty Counsel said that the series is aired during mid-week morning announcements and produced by students “providing ‘religious instruction’ on spells, magic, moon worship, and other witchcraft rituals.”
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“Liberty Counsel cautioned the school against making the instruction mandatory and informed the school that students who wish to share their Christian beliefs in the same manner cannot be denied under the law,” the release reads.
While Liberty Counsel didn’t identify the school in its release, the group did provide an excerpt from one of these Witchy Wednesday video segments.
“Good morning, witches (REDACTED). I’m (NAME REDACTED). Today is (REDACTED), and this is our first episode of ‘Witchy Wednesday.’ I am here to guide you through your magical midweek journey every Wednesday. To start, there was a new moon yesterday on Sept. 9, normally regarded as a blank slate and a new start. This phase invites introspection and intention setting. Simple things to honor this phase could be to write your intentions and bury them, or just meditate for an energy reset and healing.
There is a full moon coming up on Sept. 18, where the energy is at its highest peak. Creating simple things like moon water and releasing rituals are good ways to cleanse and recharge yourself during this period. In other news, our first-ever ‘Witch Tip Spotlight’ is a spell for enlightenment that I call ‘Light of Insight.’ Its purpose is all about inviting clarity, wisdom, and light into your life. You will need a white candle, paper, pen, and incense. You can burn your incense around your area of practice to clear your surrounding energy for a start.
You write your intuition down on your paper. Fold it three times. Burn your paper into your white candle. Burn it completely and entirely to have your intention released into the universe. That itself is your ‘Light of Insight’ at work. You then cleanse the space around you once more to finalize your spell. That’s all for today, Warriors. Have a Wicked Wednesday."
In response to the video series, Liberty Counsel claimed that students who hold Christian beliefs may not want to sit through it due to religious differences.
Thus, Liberty Counsel asked the district for the following two confirmations:
- That all students and staff who want to opt out of listening to future Witchy Wednesday episodes be allowed to do so
- Other students who may want to share their Christian beliefs be allowed to do so in a similar manner to the Witchy Wednesday segment
“Parents and students with contrary religious beliefs to the religious instruction of ‘Witchy Wednesday’ have the right to opt out,” Liberty Counsel Chairman Mat Staver said. “The First Amendment does not allow government schools to require this instruction, nor can the school deny differing viewpoints after it has opened its morning announcements forum to student expression.”
The legal group said it asked for a written response from the district by Sept. 30.
OCPS on Wednesday released the full letter it sent in response to Liberty Counsel. The district’s attorney wrote in the letter that it had stopped the “Witchy Wednesday” segment, which happened at West Orange High School, because school sponsorship of a religious message could be construed as government speech and is not constitutionally allowed.
“Because we are no longer allowing publication of the segment, the question raised in your letter regarding the Supreme Court’s recent decision of Mahmoud v. Taylor, 606 U.S. --, 145 S.Ct. 2332 (2025), concerning parental opt-outs of instruction which conflicts with their sincerely held religious beliefs is rendered moot. While I am not certain that a student presentation during morning announcements would equate to the presentation of storybooks in class by teachers as part of the curriculum without the ability of parents to opt-out as analyzed in Mahmoud, since the segment in question will not occur in the future, the issue is no longer pending,” the attorney wrote.
The attorney also criticized the way Liberty Counsel handled the matter, stating they asked for a response to the situation by Sept. 30 but went to the media with the story much sooner.
“The manner in which this matter was handled was surprising, given that both our organizations share the same goal to ensure that all students have their First Amendment free exercise rights respected,” the letter concluded.
The full letter is available below.
Liberty Counsel released a statement following the OCPS letter:
Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “We commend Orange County Public Schools for taking action to discontinue the ‘Witchy Wednesday’ video segments. Witchcraft and teaching students how to cast occultic spells have no place in government schools.”
Liberty Council