In 1984, Fort Bend county authorized a bond issue that allowed the construction of the fourth high school in Fort Bend county. Isaac Herbert Kempner, founder of Imperial Sugar, contributed much to the development of early Sugar Land. For this, the school was named after him. The first Kempner principal was decided by the board on January 11, 1988 to be Mr. Wayne Emerson. He was dedicated to his work and students. The anticipation was over when Kempner opened its doors to the first Open House on August 30, 1988 at 7:30 p.m. The $15,522,300 school contained 55.88 acres of pecan trees, a 750-seat auditorium, and 100 faculty and staff members. In 1990 Kempner graduated its first senior class. Kempner was FBISD's fourth comprehensive high school. When Kempner first opened, the area surrounding it was isolated and mostly agricultural; in fact Highway 6 was only two-laned at the time. In the past years, the school has witnessed growth in both enrollment and suburban change in the surrounding areas. At one point Kempner had 3,000 enrolled students. In the 1999–2000 school year, Dr. James May became the new principal following Dr. Wayne Emerson and served the students and staff of Kempner until his retirement in June 2008. Under Dr. May, Kempner continued its tradition of academic excellence and its reputation as a school for all students. Troy Mooney became the 3rd principal of Kempner High School and served in that capacity until July 2010. During that time KHS achieved recognition as a Recognized High School from the Texas Education Agency as well as a 96th percentile National ranking from Newsweek magazine.
Student body
At one point, Kempner had 3,000 students. In the 2005–2006 school year, Kempner had a population of 2,616 students: 723 freshmen, 683 sophomores, 597 juniors, and 613 seniors. Compared to other schools in the district, Kempner's student body features a diverse group of ethnicities, where not just one race predominates. According to the 2015–2016 Texas Education Agency, the student body comprises 37% non-Hispanic White, 30% Asian/Pacific Islander, 19% Hispanic, 13% African American, and <1% American Indian/Alaskan Native. However, a demographic shift has taken place since then, and according to the 2012-2013 Spring Ethnicity Report published by FBISD, According to the report, the school is 35.6% Asian, 15% Black, 16.3% White, and 30.3% Hispanic/Latino.
Culture
In 2013, Navjinder Singh, a worker at the Indian grocery shop Keemat Grocers who was quoted in The New York Times, stated that Kempner has hallways known for particular ethnic groups; for instance, "Desi hallway" refers to an area where students of Indian origins congregate.
Boundaries and feeder patterns
Kempner High School, which serves grades 9 through 12, is a part of the Fort Bend Independent School District. Kempner serves portions of Sugar Land and a very small section of Houston. Kempner serves a portion of the First Colony development. Most of Telfair is zoned to Kempner. The attendance boundary included the Smithville housing complex, which was employee housing of the Central Prison Unit housing minor dependents of Texas Department of Criminal Justice staff, until the unit's 2011 closure. The following elementary schools feed into Kempner:
