Summertime brought some changes to Douglas County School System as it prepares for the first day of classes Monday.

System officials completed a new building for Factory Shoals Elementary School, moved the Performance Learning Center into the old Factory Shoals building, did extensive renovations to three other schools, and hired new principals at seven schools.

Now, the system is preparing for an estimated 24,500 students to enter its doors — almost no change in number from 2011-12. Douglas County has seen relatively flat growth in student numbers since the beginning of the housing industry downturn in 2007 following years of growth.

The new Factory Shoals school on Mount Vernon Road has a capacity of 800 students. Students who attended the old school — which had a capacity of about 500 and was using portable classrooms — will join a portion of those from Sweetwater and Annette Winn schools in 2011-12 to make up the student body, said system spokeswoman Karen Stroud.

Workers last week were completing ESPLOST-funded renovations to Turner and Fairplay middle schools and Lithia Springs High School, Stroud said.

“They are working steadily to get them ready for the start of school,” she said.

The renovations include upgrades to such items as heating, air conditioning, flooring, lighting and cafeteria fixtures, she said.

The school system’s Performance Learning Center will fill the former Factory Shoals building. The school —which offers an online curriculum for students who have not succeeded in a traditional classroom setting — formerly filled trailers on the campus of West Georgia Technical College in Douglasville.

The system also added new principals at seven locations, including Bill Arp, Burnett, Eastside, Mirror Lake and New Manchester elementary schools; and Yeager Middle and Lithia Springs High schools, which swapped their principals.

New principals for 2012-13 include:

- Julie Pierce at Bill Arp. She is a former assistant principal at Sweetwater Elementary.

- Marissa Ogando at Burnett. She was formerly in administration in Carroll County Schools and a former teacher at Bill Arp.

- Sean Roach, a former assistant principal at Chapel Hill Elementary, at Eastside.

- Susan Calderara at Mirror Lake. She is a former assistant at Winston Elementary.

- Alesia Stanley at New Manchester Elementary. She formerly was assistant principal at Holly Springs Elementary.

- Fred Ervin at Yeager Middle. He formerly served as principal at Lithia Springs High School.

- Garrick Askew at Lithia Springs High. He formerly was principal at Yeager Middle.