# How do I clear the roster safely?

Senior Admin only, and genuinely destructive — this cannot be undone. Found on School Settings (School Settings) (/school-settings), in a red-bordered Danger Zone section.

Source: https://www.studentdirectory.app/help/admins/clear-the-roster
Last updated: 2026-11-04

*From the School Administrator manual, "Clearing the Roster (Danger Zone)".*

**Senior Admin only, and genuinely destructive — this cannot be undone.** Found on **School
Settings** ([School Settings](/help/admins/school-settings)) (`/school-settings`), in a red-bordered **Danger Zone**
section.

This permanently deletes **every student** in your school. Use it only for a genuine full reset
(e.g. starting a new school year from scratch with a fresh import) — not for removing individual
students, which you should archive or delete one at a time instead (see [The Student Roster](/help/admins/student-roster)).

To confirm: type **DELETE** (exactly, in capitals) into the confirmation field, then click **Clear
roster**.

**Warning shown if you (or another admin) are also a parent here.** If any Senior or Junior Admin at
your school is also linked as a parent to a student, clearing the roster deletes that link, and
re-importing the roster does **not** bring it back (the admin would have to be re-linked by hand).
When this applies, the Danger Zone shows an amber warning listing exactly which admins (by email)
would be affected, and the **Clear roster** button will not work until you also tick **I understand
the admin(s) listed above will lose their linked-student access and that re-importing will not
restore it.** If no admin is affected you see no warning and no extra checkbox. To refresh the roster
for a new year without this risk, use the CSV re-import on the Import Students page instead of
clearing first.

Clearing the roster removes every parent's linked students, so their accounts are automatically
deactivated (they've nothing left to do at your school). When you re-import for the new year, any
returning family reactivates automatically as soon as their student is linked again — you don't
need to manually reactivate anyone (see [Members — Parents, Password Resets, and Student Links](/help/admins/members-and-access)).