Members of the commission charged with reforming West Sacramento's schools have asked Jim Sweeney, superintendent of Sacramento City schools, for advice.

West Sacramento leaders hope that Sweeney and other Sacramento City district officials can provide tips on how to get local parents and community members to buy in to the reform campaign.

"We want to put together a plan to get the community at large on board," said Len Strickland, president of West Sacramento's Chamber of Commerce and a member of the blue ribbon commission charged with making recommendations to change the schools.

West Sacramento leaders launched a school reform campaign last summer, but few residents, other than elected officials and business people, have attended meetings in the months since.

Washington Unified School District, the only school district in West Sacramento, is plagued by low student test scores and high teacher turnover. With a large population of low-income students and those with limited English skills, the district faces some of the same educational challenges as Sacramento City Unified, although the district, with an enrollment 6,200, is much smaller than Sacramento City, with 55,000 students.

Sweeney has garnered national attention for helping lift test scores in the Sacramento City schools. He was tapped for the top post in his district about four years ago after Sacramento City leaders launched a massive reform campaign that began with the election of a new school board majority.

Sacramento business leaders, led by the late Mayor Joe Serna Jr., were pivotal in initiating the reform. They backed a slate of new board members and spoke frequently in public about how the schools were failing.

West Sacramento business leaders have taken a similar path, but have been unable to find one person to run for the school board. They believe they are fighting against a tide of hopelessness in the community.

West Sacramento City Councilman Christopher Cabaldon, the city's former mayor who was instrumental in initiating the reform efforts, said he called 118 residents last fall, hoping to find at least one to run for the board.

No one volunteered.

"There were people who deeply cared about the schools, but said they don't believe it will ever get better," Cabaldon said. "We need to create a sense of optimism. We've turned around all of the other negatives about West Sacramento, except the schools."

Irene Ecklund, a member of the Washington Unified board, said she also is troubled. "I've been on the board for a long time, and maybe that's why I'm so pessimistic," she said.

Ecklund added that Sacramento City leaders may bring new insight to her district's problems. "The more dialoguing that goes on between neighboring districts the better off we all are," Ecklund said.

Sweeney, who regularly talks with superintendents from struggling districts across the country, said it makes sense to learn from other districts' successes and failures. He said West Sacramento needs to convince residents that they have a voice in deciding what changes should be made in the schools.

"But you have to in the beginning say, 'We have a lot of work to do and we can't spend a lot of time justifying the things that aren't working,' " Sweeney said.

Sweeney and members of the commission plan to meet in the next few weeks.

Last summer, Cabaldon announced the formation of a commission composed of 12 community, business and education leaders who were charged with studying Washington Unified to recommend changes.

In November, the commission issued a preliminary report that said the schools were besieged by poor leadership and weak community support. The district has had three superintendents in five years and is now headed by Patrick Campbell, an interim superintendent.

Campbell, who also is a member of the city's reform team, stressed the importance of developing a strategic plan to attack the district's problems. He said he and the school board, along with members of the reform team, are working to develop such a plan.

Campbell also has been meeting with officials from California State University, Sacramento, to discuss developing volunteer jobs for parents to do at the schools. "There's been no district initiative in that area," Campbell said.

Leaders from CSUS and Washington Unified also are discussing operating a joint education center in the district that would focus on student counseling.

But Campbell and other city leaders hope officials in Sacramento City can offer tips on how to gain public support for these initiatives.

"We're sort of looking across the river to Sacramento as a template to follow for school reform," said Mark Montemayor, mayor of West Sacramento.