Johnston's Winsor Hill principal flips flapjacks for faculty

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Amy Burns stood at the tiny griddle, giggling and struggling with a spatula.

“I was in charge of adding the water,” she said, shaking a small yellow vessel of batter. “Apparently that was a mistake.”

The batter ran out forming a pool of pale liquid. Bubbles quickly formed. The sides curled slightly and turned golden brown.

Burns slipped the spatula underneath, and flipped about three-quarters of the disc, accidentally leaving just one edge tucked underneath. A few flicks of her wrist, and the pancake had finally settled raw-side down.

She scooped it off the sizzling silver surface and onto a pile of finished flapjacks, most slightly bigger than a silver dollar.

“This has been a tradition in my family for years,” Burns said while manning a griddle in the Winsor Hill Elementary School cafeteria. “Every year, on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, about 60 of us get together and have pancakes.”

As Winsor Elementary’s new principal, Burns decided to bring her family tradition to her new family at the school, making pancakes for the building’s 50 staff members.

Prior to taking the post at Winsor Hill, Burns served as assistant principal at Johnston High School. Then, in August, she accepted the principal’s position at Winsor Hill.

Prior to working in Johnston, Burns served as principal at the Robert F. Kennedy School in Providence, where she befriended school secretary (and Johnston state Rep.) Deb Fellela.

Fellela joined Burns Tuesday morning to help pass out pancakes before students arrived for the day.

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is celebrated differently across cultures.

Traditionally referred to as Shrove Tuesday or Fat Tuesday, various Christian denominations often celebrate by indulging in favorite, fattening foods before the Lenten fast begins.

“Mardi Gras” is French for “Fat Tuesday.” In Italy, they celebrate “Martedi Grasso.”

The Pennsylvania Dutch celebrate Fastnacht Day, or Donut Day (“fastnacht” roughly translates to “fasting night”). The Polish call it Paczki Day.

Across the United States, the day has been dubbed National Pancake Day.

And in the Winsor Hill cafeteria, staff members indulged before the school day began.

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