Auto adding student after removing

Question

I’m having a strange problem with Microsoft Teams for Education.

When I remove a student from a class team, they keep getting added back automatically after a while (usually within an hour). I didn’t add them back, and no one else on the team did either.

Even though they’re supposed to be removed, they still show up in the member list again and can access the class like normal.

Not sure why this is happening or how to stop it.

Answer 1

Dear @Lou Dennis,

I understand how frustrating this situation is when a student keeps coming back after you remove them. In this case, to help us identify why the student keeps getting added back to the class, could you please confirm a few details:

1/ How was the Class Team created? Was this team created manually by a teacher, or was it automatically created by your school (for example at the start of the term)?

2/ Does your school use a student management system or School Data Sync (SDS)? For example: PowerSchool, SIMS, Clever, or another system that manages class rosters centrally.

Note: In most school environments, Class Teams are synchronized with a central roster system (such as School Data Sync). This means membership is controlled outside of Teams, and any manual removal in Teams can be reverted automatically during the next sync cycle.

3/ When you remove the student, where are you doing it from? Is it removed directly in Microsoft Teams (Manage team > Members), or from another system?

4/ Does this issue occur when using the Teams desktop app, the Teams web version (browser), or both?

5/ Can the student still see assignments or class content even after removal?

In this case, since you are using a Microsoft Teams for Education account, I recommend reaching out to your school IT administrator. They can verify whether your Class Team is synchronized with a central roster system, check and update the student’s official class enrollment, and create a support ticket with Microsoft Support on your behalf if needed.

Microsoft Support has access to backend tools and logs that can help review the synchronization process, identify what system or rule is re-adding the student, and confirm whether this is expected behavior or a configuration issue.

This is important because only the school’s IT admin has the required administrative access to investigate backend synchronization and escalate the issue properly with Microsoft. For reference:  Get support | Microsoft Docs   

Note: If you do not know who your school IT admin is, please follow this Microsoft guide: How do I find my Microsoft 365 admin?

In the meantime, you can try the following steps to better control membership going forward by creating a Private Team instead of a Public team so that only owners can add members

Go to Teams > Join or create a team > Create team, choose From scratch, and select Private when prompted

Limit who can manage members by going to Manage team > Settings > Adjust member permissions so only owners can add people. For more information, please follow Manage team settings and permissions in Microsoft Teams

If needed, reduce external access by asking your school IT admin to review Guest access settings in the Teams admin center.

Moreover, if this only happens on the Teams desktop app, you may try clearing the Teams cache to rule out any local display issues. However, if the student reappears on both the app and the web version, this is not a cache issue. For more information and instruction, please follow Clear the Teams client cache

Note: Please understand that as a forum moderator, my role is to provide general guidance and troubleshooting support. I don’t have access to internal systems or backend tools, and I appreciate your understanding of these limits.

I hope the information shared helps point you in the right direction. Please try the steps above and let me know if they work. If not, we can continue working together to narrow this down.

The first response may not always resolve the issue right away, but with your help and more details, we can work toward a solution.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I'm looking forward for your reply.

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