On the morning of April 1, David Randelman — Lindbergh Schools “watchdog” and former Board of Education candidate — posted an AI-generated image of Lindbergh superintendent Tony Lake to Facebook. In the fake image, Lake wore a T-shirt reading, “Please vote for Richard Breeding, Board of Education.”
“This was a satirical AI-generated April Fools’ Day joke/parody,” Randelman later wrote in the comments of the post. “It is not real and does not reflect any actual statement or endorsement by Dr. Lake. Enjoy everyone!”
The post quickly took off online, accruing 97 comments as of The Call’s press time.
“We are literally teaching children why it’s wrong to use AI to depict people doing or saying things they never did,” one user, Carrie Love, commented. “This post is a perfect example of exactly that. This is an AI-generated image of a real, named public official portraying something that never happened, without his consent. This isn’t a prank. Burying an ‘April 1st context’ disclaimer in the comments doesn’t make it okay.”
Randelman has been a vocal supporter of Breeding’s campaign for Board of Education, where Breeding will go toe-to-toe with three incumbents on the April 7 election. Randelman, himself, has repeatedly run for Lindbergh’s school board in the past, but he commented that this year he is just “enjoy(ing) the chaos as a spectator.”
Breeding responded to the post, writing, “LOL! April Fools!”
According to Lindbergh Schools’ chief communications officer Beth Johnston, Lindbergh requested that Randelman take down the post. As of The Call’s press time, he has not done so.
Another candidate for Board of Education, Treasurer Andrew Lawson, took to his own Facebook page in response to Randelman’s post. Matt Alonzo and Christy Watz, the two other incumbent candidates, did not publicly comment.
“This action is neither funny nor harmless,” Lawson said. “Taking someone’s likeness and twisting it to fit your narrative or objective, or make a statement that the person never made, is a heinous violation of personal autonomy and unequivocally unacceptable.”
He added, “This goes beyond a campaign for school board. This is about basic human decency. Do better.”
Deepfakes have been a hot topic of discussion in the Missouri legislature for years. Senate Bill 1444 — sponsored by State Sen. Tracy McCreery (D-Olivette) in 2024 — addressed the distribution of deepfakes during elections, though the bill was killed. Another bill regarding deepfakes in political advertisements and communications died in 2025: Missouri Senate Bill 509, sponsored by State Sen. Joe Nicola (R-Grain Valley). Currently, Missouri legislators are considering laws about deepfakes that include intimate or sexual content.
