While I was happy to see that Stars and Stripes addressed the closure of European airspace, I feel the headline "Ash cloud gives hundreds of DODDS teachers extended spring break" (April 19, online edition) was incredibly misleading. It conjures images of teachers ditching their responsibilities, when, in fact, there’s nothing further from the truth.

Our military community should know that Department of Defense Education Authority teachers forwarded lesson plans when the crisis started, and, like others, we [were] stuck in airports or paying hundreds of euros for hotel expenses that we had not planned. This crisis effects all of our European military community, and the headline should have reflected that.

Harry AtkinsonDODDS teacherSigonella, Sicily