It’s been a deadly spring break for one Birmingham high school.

Two students – 17-year-old Caleb Whitt and 16-year-old Jada White – were shot to death in separate incidents just days apart.

“Sick to my stomach” is the way Jackson-Olin High School Principal Nichole Davis-Williams described some of her emotions after learning of slayings of two of her students.

“It’s personal for me,’’ Davis-Williams said. “It hurts, deeply.”

Caleb

Caleb was shot to death midday Sunday on the city’s southwest side. Birmingham police responded shortly before 12:30 p.m. to University Crossings apartments after Shot Spotter – the city’s gunfire detection system – indicated multiple rounds were fired.

They found Caleb dead in the back of the complex parking lot. Police said he had been shot somewhere else and dumped there.

“Unfortunately, Mr. Whitt was with a group of people that were shooting into a home and some individuals returned fire, unfortunately striking Mr. Whitt,’’ said Police Chief Scott Thurmond. “There again, we have a 17-year-old engaging in illegal activity, possessing a firearm, and he lost his life. This could have been prevented had Mr. Whitt not been engaging in that type of activity.”

A suspect has been identified, but no charges have been announced.

Davis-Williams said Caleb was charismatic and loved by everyone at Jackson-Olin.

“Despite what they say he did, Caleb was not that kid in my presence,’’ the principal said. “He was kind. He was loving. He was thoughtful.”

She said Caleb’s smile stood out. “All of the teachers loved him,” Davis-Williams said.

Caleb, a senior who was about to become a father, had missed about 20 days of school but was committed to making up that work and getting back on track.

“He said, ‘I really want to finish. Can you help me?’’’ Davis-Williams recalled.

He was put into a program and was putting in the work.

“We had a plan so we could get him back on track and that’s what we were working on when he died,’’ she said. “When you spend countless minutes and hours working on these plans and then someone just takes their life, it’s like, ‘How dare you?’’’

Jada

Jada was shot to death Wednesday at 2:24 a.m. at 30th Street Ensley and Avenue F. Police said Jada and several friends were in the 3000 block of Avenue F when someone shot at them.

Jada collapsed on a sidewalk and died. Another teen girl was found injured in a vehicle nearby but her injuries were not life-threatening.

“She was with three other 17-year-old females. They’d been out drinking, driving around and were damaging a vehicle when someone began shooting at them and unfortunately, she lost her life,’’ Thurmond said.

Jada was on Jackson-Olin’s cheerleading squad last year and was on the school’s soccer team this year.

“She liked to get involved and support her school,” Davis-Williams said.

“Jada was a fun-loving young lady,’’ she said. “She liked to laugh and be silly.”

Davis-Williams went to elementary school with Jada’s mother, which made the loss even more painful.

“And I’m from that neighborhood,’’ she said. “It pains me to see it become so violent because I used to walk those streets and have popsicles and ice cream.”

School safety

Davis-Williams said the school has done its due diligence to keep students safe when school is in session.

“We have five officers in that building to ensure that every bag is checked, that nothing comes in the building,’’ she said. “We sometimes check them in the middle of the day in case someone texts someone and told them to open a door.”

“We’re always on alert, so when we send them out of the building and they get hurt, it’s just deflating,’’ she said. “We would really like to see more efforts being made in the community.”

No one, Davis-Williams said, can say it’s not their responsibility.

“It’s all of our responsibility. The school, the police, the churches, the businesses who take their money every day,’’ she said. “We’re a part of this community and my concern is for anyone who thinks they’re not responsible because we’re taking our responsibility seriously in the school.”

Chief Thurmond earlier this week held a press conference to address the gun violence that killed nine people in nine days in the city, including Caleb and Jada. He was frank, and said parents need to take responsibility for their children, know where they are and who they are with.

“We have meetings all the time and we invite parents, and they don’t show up,’’ Davis-Williams said. “We’re begging them to come and talk about how to help their child.”

“We can’t get them to come,’’ she said. “Something has to change on the part of the parents to take the safety and security and success of their child seriously.”

Birmingham City Schools Superintendent Mark Sullivan, she said, fully supports measures to keep students and teachers safe while they’re in school.

“He has been so awesome,’’ she said. “He has lately sent us additional security guards…which makes us feel so much safer.”

“I feel safe in our building,’’ she said. “I just wish we could get the same response from the community and the parents.”

Davis-Williams said she will meet Sunday with the Jackson-Olin teachers before students return to class Monday from spring break.

“We recognize what a lot of people don’t – they’re hurting, too,’’ she said. “We don’t want to put them hurting so raw in front of students.”

“We want to support them and let them get some of their grief out among each other so that when the kids come on Monday, we’ll be a little stronger to see them,’’ she said.

There will be countless counselors from across the district at the school Monday to support the students, and those counselors will be on hand all week.

Davis-Williams said school officials pour so much into the students. It’s hard when something happens to them on the outside.

“We don’t have control and when you don’t have control you feel hopeless,’’ she said. “Sometimes we feel helpless, but we can’t allow that to consume us because we have a job to do and we still have some more children to save so we’re going to continue to work hard so we can save the ones we still have in front of us.”