REDLANDS >> During Friday night’s Redlands East Valley High graduation, Principal John Maloney gave what was perhaps a surprising shout-out. He saluted the “courage” of cheerleaders criticized for dressing up as Hispanic “gangstas” last summer.

“These are high school kids,” Maloney told the Redlands Bowl audience. “We don’t care about what is happening in Congress but we care about a of couple cheerleaders dressing up. I admire those girls for their strength and courage.”

Word of the “Gangsta Day” team-building activity first became public knowledge in August, when students circulated a picture of 13 members of the 2014-15 cheer-leading squad dressed in baggy jeans, wearing heavy makeup and making gang hand signs. The image appeared on Instagram and Facebook. Some girls shoved basketballs under their shirts and pretended they were pregnant.

The cheer-leading program was suspended during the subsequent investigation, which found that team advisers had signed off on the costumes, despite at least one coach being uncomfortable with the event, which dates back at least as far as 2010. The cheer-leading, song and mascot coaches who approved the “Gangsta Day” are no longer employed by the school district.

Redlands Unified updated its training process for employees and reaffirmed that although student spirit days are approved at school, the district expects “continuity” in how schools follow district policies and practices.

Some in the crowd of hundreds at the Bowl were offended by Maloney’s remarks.

“My child went to graduation to celebrate her friend’s accomplishments and instead got a lesson in reinforcing institutional racism,” Aja Henriquez, who attended Friday night’s graduation ceremony, wrote in an email. “The principal’s comments about the racist cheerleaders simply being ‘normal high school’ behavior is the only thing she remembered about the event when she came home, along with laughter and silence that followed along racial lines in the crowd.”

Maloney’s remarks were not meant to minimize the Gangsta Day incident, Redlands Unified Superintendent Lori Rhodes wrote in an email on Saturday.

“John’s remarks focused on the concept that the students made a mistake, and that he was proud of how the school pulled together in the face of extreme media attention,” Rhodes wrote. “Kids make mistakes — we all do— and one was made at the beginning of the year. My hope is always when students make mistakes they go unnoticed in the larger scheme of things and that the personal learning that comes from having made a mistake, happens privately. Sadly, with the media explosion that surrounded this event last fall, that hope was not an option for these students.”

The students apologized for the photo, Rhodes said.

“I did not hear John Maloney say it was acceptable, and it wasn’t,” Rhodes continued. “The photo contained images of issues that educators have to deal with, or worry about, daily — weapons, guns, and teen pregnancy. None of the issues are frivolous, and portraying them in such a manner is not OK.”

The district investigation revealed “lapses in judgement” but not ill will on the part of any of those involved in Gangsta Day, she wrote.

“John Maloney and REV learned from this episode,” Rhodes said. “Maloney determined that he needed to put procedures in place to ensure that this type of event didn’t happen again, and he has done that. Additionally, REV has moved forward with Synergy Day, holding at least two events that work to bring understanding and tolerance to campus.”

Forty-four percent of the REV Class of 2014 (the most recent year for which data is available) was identified as Hispanic or Latino, according to the California Department of Education.

Correspondent Rory O’Sullivan contributed to this report.