I think it could be done. Especially if you were willing to pay for one and get support if you don't have much in the form of php/mysql skills.

Do you happen to know of any websites where I might be able to hire a programmer with the level of php/mysql skills that would be needed for a site of this magnitude?

Thanks.

It really depends on wether or not you need a CMS, here aer a few questions you should ask your self. a) Do you plan to write articles and add other content b) Is your site just news with forums or do you have other content in mind. If its just news with forum you can use any of the free forum softwares they usully come with a portal system which can accomplish the news part. If you are looking for a free CMS try mambo http://mamboserver.com/ its pretty good and development looks steady too.

When I first posted this question I didn't have a good understanding of a CMS. Dani replied to a post of mine explaining a CMS vs. a portal.

Since I don't plan to have much more than a forum, photo gallery, and a member database(i.e., a list of people in each class that have signed up) I think a portal is closer to what I need.

I am familiar with vBulletin but I have learned that vBulletin would not work with the possible thousands of forums I would need--one for each school. Apparently the vBulletin database format is not built for that.

I think I may have to start from scratch and build a scalable site that has an integrated photo gallery and forum.

What do you think?

One suggestion though dont start with two many forums it wont work its a pretty well known fact now start small and then expand as you get bigger, you would be better of having zones first, then expand them to cities and if things really well than you can expand them to each school, I wish you luck with this project as it looks really tough not many people have had success with such ambitious plans.

That is excellent advice and actually how I intended to pursue this. But at the same time I was trying to keep options for growth open. I have also heard of sites that started out without any plans for expansion and ran into major problems when their site became too big.

Thanks!

...I would check out the Premade Scripts forum to ask if anyone knows of anything more targeted to your needs. I'm using a more-or-less default vBulletin forum here (with some of my own hacks) and we have about 170 forums.

I have considered that but I really like the features of vBulletin. As a forum I need only a few hacks programmed for vBulletin so that the site would work like I intend it to. I might ask around anyway because the developers of vBulletin even told me that 'forum cache' created by vBulletin on a site with hundreds of forums would bog down any server. It seems like vBulletin might be more geared toward a large number of users and a large number of posts versus an enormous amount of individual forums.

Thanks Dani.