Okay, I've skimmed through most of the thread and I think I got most of the issue.
My problem is the teachers seemed to be having an issue with a few students violating the privacy of the teachers' desks. What they did accomplished nothing toward addressing the real problem. They should have spent their time trying to discover who was going into desk drawers where students aren't allowed and then putting a stop to that behavior.
I really wouldn't care if my child was disappointed with a fake school trip, but
the whole "Well we'll just trick the whole 8th grade class" was just a huge detour into an immature and pointless neener, neener, neener kind of act by the teachers that did nothing to address or stop the problem they were having.
Teachers are supposed to be MORE MATURE than their students. They are Not supposed to run around stooping to trying to one up the tricks of a pack of 13 year old boys.
So next month when somebody decides to go snooping for grade records or the next math test, are they going to stop out of fear that the Math teacher might play another misleading slide show to the whole class?
And if that makes me a "teacher basher" then so be it.