Eric CombsSpeaker · Trainer · Author
Eric Combs · Speaker · Trainer · Author

He guarded nuclear weapons and presidents. Then he became Ohio's Teacher of the Year.

School safety, student engagement, and classroom management training that works, without the fear. Every school safety consultant is either a security expert who never taught or a teacher who read a book about security. Eric is the only one in the room who is both.

Booked by schools, districts, sheriffs' offices, and state preparedness programs nationwide. His calendar fills months ahead.

Eric Combs
20 years Air Force Security Forces. 12+ years in schools.
2006 Ohio Teacher of the YearAnd a 2013 finalist for Ohio Assistant Principal of the Year
20 years, USAF Security ForcesSuperintendent and special tactics instructor. Trained with the British SAS
DHS-approved instructorTeaches MGT-417 and AWR-148 crisis management nationally
400,000+ educators trainedPart of the Time To Teach team at the Center for Teacher Effectiveness
In front of the room

He holds the room. Any room.

Full staff in-services, law enforcement classes, and student assemblies in the hundreds. The rooms change. The result does not.

Eric Combs speaking to a full student assembly
A full house, and every eye up front.Want to see him live before you book? Eric will connect you with leaders who have hosted him.
The work

Three problems every school leader is carrying. One trainer who has lived all three.

In the order schools need them most. Every session is practical, story-driven, and built so your staff walks out with things they will use the next morning. Classroom courses carry 1-3 hours of graduate credit.

1st

School Safety & Security

Common sense over cameras
Most safety pitches sell hardware. Eric works on the part that actually prevents incidents: trained people, sound habits, and a plan everyone knows.

Eric spent twenty years protecting America's highest valued assets, from nuclear weapons to presidents. He brings that expertise to your building the way an educator would: calm, practical, and determined to make your school safer without making it look or act like a prison. His own writing takes apart fear-based active shooter theatrics. When he trains, people remember the plan, not the pain.

Safety and Security Habits for Educators (SASH). The 8-hour course with his 100-page handbook. Personal security habits first, then the classroom and building: entry controls, violent individuals, bomb threats, and the "I Love U Guys" Standard Response Protocols your district may already use.
On-site vulnerability assessments. A full school day, while school is in session, no drills and no disruption. You get a written, photographed report with fixes ranked cheapest first. Many cost nothing.
Tabletops and drills. Threat assessment methods, harbor points, communication protocols, and first responder relationships for your safety team.
DHS-approved crisis management. Eric teaches AWR-148 and MGT-417 for school-based incidents nationally.

Take the 2-minute school safety self-check →

Federal and state money exists for exactly this. BJA STOP funds pay for staff training and threat assessment teams, and most states now run their own school safety grants. Eric helps you frame the ask.

Bring this to your school
2nd

Student Engagement & Motivation

Reach the checked-out kid
Roughly 1 in 4 students is chronically absent, and behind them sit students who show up but have checked out. Belonging and teacher connection pull them back.

Eric co-wrote the Time To Teach course on differentiated instruction, storytelling, and motivation, and he delivers it like the storyteller he is. Teachers leave with strategies like Synectics, Hot Seat, and structured storytelling they can drop into tomorrow's lesson, plus the why behind each one: positive feelings, attention, connectedness, and self-efficacy.

This course was put under a microscope, a doctoral case study watched what happened after one day of it. The numbers are below.

See how the course is built, component by component:

Component 1 · 2 minute overview
Component 2 · 2 minute overview
Component 3 · 2 minute overview
Component 4 · 2 minute overview
Component 5 · 2 minute overview

Short overviews from the Student Engagement and Motivation course.

Bring this to your school
3rd

Classroom Management

Give teachers their time back
Teachers report losing about 144 minutes of instruction a week to disruption, roughly 14 school days a year, and behavior is the top reason they quit.

The Time To Teach day changes the approach to discipline itself. Diffusers, Unconditional Positive Regard, and the Refocus method teach students to change their own behavior instead of simply being punished for it. Schools using it report dramatic drops in referrals, and one implementing school logged 59% fewer court-reportable discipline incidents over two years (per its resource officer's records).

Replacing a single teacher costs a district an estimated $11,860 to $24,930. A day that keeps teachers teaching, and keeps them from leaving, is the cheapest retention insurance a district can buy.

Bring this to your school
Put to the test

A doctoral study sat in the classrooms and counted.

In 2015, a University of North Carolina at Charlotte doctoral case study examined Eric's one-day engagement and differentiated instruction training, delivered by Eric himself at a working middle school. The researcher tallied off-task behaviors in six classrooms before the training and after it.

Macon, A. K. (2015). The effect of differentiated instruction professional development on response and engagement in the middle school classroom. UNC Charlotte doctoral dissertation. Case study of six classrooms; the study notes results strengthen further with follow-up support, which is exactly how Eric structures multi-visit work.

281 88observed off-task behaviors, before → after one day
In the room

Educators, students, and the people who protect them.

Eric Combs training a room of educators
A full day with a school staff
Eric Combs speaking to a packed student assembly
Hundreds of students, all in
Eric Combs training law enforcement and school safety teams
Training school safety teams & law enforcement
Eric Combs presenting to a conference room of educators
District PD, tables full
From the evaluation forms

Teachers grade everything. Here's how they grade this.

Every word below is transcribed from a signed seminar evaluation of the program Eric co-authored, with permission on file to print the name.

7/7
“This really works!”
“I use many of the philosophies and practices in my classroom from attending a Time to Teach in the summer. I have found that, when used consistently, my students respond to these practices so much better than what I experienced last year.”
Courtney Willard · 6th Grade Math Teacher · North Carolina · one full year after implementing
6.8 / 7
Top category average from an Ohio university-hosted seminar (all categories 6.6 to 6.8)
59% fewer
Court-reportable discipline incidents over two years at one implementing school, per the resource officer's log
18+ states
Plus Hawaii and Canada. Thousands of educators trained in the program
Engagement & Motivation
This was one of the best seminars I have been to.
Garvin RobersonSocial Studies Teacher · Elkhart, Indiana
Engagement & Motivation
I feel I have learned enough to make major changes with my students. I can't wait to try all these great strategies!
Amira FadlallahHigh School Teacher · Dearborn, Michigan
Special Education
I absolutely love Time To Teach! My special education students have recognized their full potential with the implementation of this in my room.
Tina HatfieldSpecial Education Teacher · West Virginia
No Fluff
This was not a “fluffy,” “sugar-coated” workshop that wasted time. I honestly am looking at my teaching methods and procedures in a different and new way.
Lauren McMahon4th Grade Teacher · North Carolina
Instructional Time
Tremendously informative. Strategies that will enable each teacher to have an immediate increase in instructional time.
Marcus Heyward2nd Grade Teacher · South Carolina
School Leadership
This workshop is not only helpful for teachers, but for administrators as well. It has inspired me to think about the school-wide strategies and interventions that I can use.
Leslie BaileyPrincipal Intern · North Carolina

Hear it in their own words

Video testimonials on Eric and his Student Engagement and Motivation training.

The unlikely resume

Security Forces superintendent. Teacher of the Year. Same guy.

Eric spent twenty years in Air Force Security Forces, protecting assets from nuclear weapons to presidents, training with the British SAS, and earning USAF Europe's Non-commissioned Officer of the Year. Then he did the harder job: he walked into a public school classroom. Twelve years later he had taught World History to at-risk ninth graders, been named 2006 Ohio Teacher of the Year, served as an administrator, and joined the faculty at two universities.

Off the clock he is a scuba diver, a high ropes and rappelling instructor, a survival instructor, and a storyteller who can hold seven hundred teenagers or a room of sheriff's deputies with the same story. Your staff will not check their email during his sessions. They will be too busy laughing and writing things down.

Meet him in person
Eric Combs teaching a seminar
Storyteller first. Everything else follows.
From the store

Start with his story. Then take the training home.

Books and classroom resources by Eric and the Time To Teach team. Add to cart and Eric follows up personally with an invoice.

SaleMission Critical cover
Eric's flagship

Mission Critical

The award-winning memoir behind everything on this site. Riveting, funny, and honest.

$20 $25
Safety and Security Habits for Educators cover
School safety

Safety and Security Habits for Educators

Common sense personal protection for every staff member, from everyday life to the hallway.

$25
Teach-To's cover
Classroom management

Teach-To's: 100 Behavior Lesson Plans

One hundred ready to use behavior lesson plans to teach the behavior you want to see.

$49.95

There is money for this. Most schools just don't know where it sits.

Federal BJA STOP School Violence funds pay for staff training and threat assessment teams (the other federal stream, COPS SVPP, is hardware only and cannot fund training). Most states now run their own school safety grants on top, and several mandate the very training and assessments Eric provides. Tell him your state and he will help you frame the request.

Ask about funding
Check availability

Tell Eric about your school.

Keynotes, full-day trainings, two-day bundles, on-site security assessments, and tabletop series. Classroom courses carry 1-3 hours of graduate credit.

Eric reads and answers every inquiry himself, usually within a day
Straight answers on dates, formats, and fees
Help framing grant and funding requests
His calendar books out months ahead, so reach out early
Goes straight to Eric's inbox. No lists, no spam, no sales team.