Imagine, if you will, a classroom full of kids who have just been hit with a hard and vivid truth they were not ready for.

Some sit dazed, their mouths open, eyes sad and confused. Others have burst into tears, overwhelmed by a revelation that hit them like a punch to the gut.

For these children, the world has changed and not for the better. The magic is lost; the feeling of goodwill and reward for acceptable behavior gone forever.

This grim scene comes to you from Montello Elementary School in Lewiston where, according to a pair of local mothers, a substitute teacher revealed to a class of 8- and 9-year-olds that Santa is not real.

Not real at all, she told them. And to prove her assertions, she invoked the wisdom of Siri to lay the unhappy facts on the children.

According to one little girl, most of the class was blubbering by the time the bell rang.

Two parents of 9-year-old girls reached out to me in disgust. They are upset because a school teacher took it upon herself to discuss a matter typically left in the hands of parents.

They are disgusted because, as far as they know, that teacher has faced no consequences for her attack on tradition and belief.

But mostly they are sad — sad for their children who have lost something sacred. Sad because the children from that classroom will not be able to come upon the truth about Christmas in a more natural and timely way.

For these two mothers, aggravation at the school system is subdued, a bit, by their own need to run damage control and to preserve their childrens’ innocence a little longer.

“I explained to my daughter that sometimes adults are Grinches and like to ruin the magic for children,” said Jolene Stevens, whose daughter was in the classroom on that memorable day. “I just feel like we live in a world where little ones seem to have to grow up too fast. So I will do whatever it takes to keep my baby a kid as long as I can.”

Jolene said her daughter broke down weeping when she described the classroom revelation. She talked about how the teacher used Siri to put forth proof that Santa does not exist.

“I went on to say Siri isn’t always right in telling things how they are,” Jolene said. “I also told her Santa only comes to homes of those who believe in his magic.”

Tatyania Drake is likewise furious about what she sees as a cruel and needless assault on a family’s traditions.

Like Jolene, Tatyania also invoked the name of the most notorious killer of Christmas spirit while trying to soothe her daughter.

“I immediately told my daughter the sub was working with the Grinch,” she said, “to try and ruin everyone’s holiday spirit.”

Also to counter harsh words from a substitute teacher, both moms have summoned the help of a different Christmas figure in hopes of enticing their children back to belief.

“We are doing the Elf on the Shelf,” Jolen said, “which  has reaffirmed her belief in Santa.”

Same deal at Tatyania’s house, where the hope is that the Elf can perform the same magic.

When they’re not trying to restore their daughters’ joy of Christmas, the mothers are wondering why that joy was taken away from them in the first place.

Both reached out to the Montello principal and the Lewiston school superintendent and waited nearly two weeks to reply.

When they did get replies, Principal Tiffany Sax and Superintendent Jake Langlais apologized for the behavior of the substitute teacher.

Telling kids about Santa, Sax wrote in an email, “is not a practice here, and if questions were to come up about Santa in any classroom, I would expect staff to prompt students to ‘talk with their grownup’ about questions they have, as it’s not part of our curriculum.”

In his email to Tatyania, Langlais described the actions of the substitute as “completely unacceptable.”

Both Sax and Langlais promised to address the matter with the sub, although it is not known what action was taken.

In my own correspondence this week with Langlais, the superintendent said he was still investigating the matter.

“I will say in situations like this I do not have much patience,” Langlais wrote. “Holidays are sacred and we should treat them as such.”

I figure there will be two schools of thought with this story.

There will be those who shrug, roll their eyes and point out that a kid has to find out the truth about Santa Claus sooner or later. So what if it was a substitute teacher who laid out the hard facts instead of an older brother or a classmate?

So what if a bunch of kids in school to learn reading, writing and arithmetic got a cold water splash of reality, instead? It had to happen someday, Bub.

But many also believe — and strongly — that in a public school system, a family’s personal faith should be off limits, whether it’s faith in God, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy.

One woman, a teacher herself, deemed the revelation at Montello a “disgusting overreach.”

“What makes this person qualified to bypass the parents and family and ruin time-honored traditions for 20-plus children?” she said. “This makes me question the screening process for substitute teachers. Are common sense, decency and age appropriateness not part of that process? Poor kids.”

Sooner or later, most kids start to discern the truth about Santa on their own. Why, it’s an early exercise in deductive reasoning.

A child will start pondering the impossibility of one man, with enough presents for every good boy and girl in the world, making a trip around the globe in a single night. They will start listening to older brothers, or beyond-their-years friends who pose questions about the nature of Father Christmas.

One might say that coming around to the truth about Santa is a right of passage; an important part of a kid’s transition between childhood and the less-fantastic world of grownups.

But it’s much more simple for these two mothers. To their eyes, their daughters were robbed of something pure and wonderful; a wholesome belief that might have sustained them a little longer before age itself starts to reveal the cynical truths about the world.

“The world is already cold and ugly as is,” Jolene said, “without losing the magic of Santa.”