A Google Workspace user recently reported an error when adding a student to a classroom. The action failed with the error.
ERROR: 409: Requested entity already exists - 409
Checking the student list showed that the user account was not a current member of the class. Trying to remove the ‘existing’ student account also created an error.
The solution was pretty simple - the student account had been added to the class as a teacher by mistake. Quite how this occurred is being examined by the admin team. Removing the student account from the teaching team and adding it back in as a student fixed the error.
As with most problems related to managing Google Classroom your best friend is GAM, particularly the
gam print course <course number>
command that provided a wealth of information and highlighted the issue straightaway.
