- School District U-46
- About the Coordinator

Phone: 847-888-5000 x7007
Email:
Degrees and Certifications:
Bachelors Degree in Music Education, Emphasis in Instrumental Music Education (2004) - Illinois State University Masters of Arts Degree in School Leadership (2011) - Concordia University Chicago
Jaimie Abney-Giraldo
Jaimie Abney-Giraldo is currently serving as the Fine Arts Coordinator for School District U-46. Prior to coming into this position, she served as a member of the administrative team at Bartlett High School, the Divisional Chairperson overseeing the areas of Fine Arts, Career/Technical Education, Advanced Placement testing, the AVID program, Activities, and the Academy of Science, Engineering, and High Technology.
A native of Spring Valley, IL, Ms. Giraldo was a 1999 recipient of the John Philip Sousa Band Award and a three-year Illinois Music Education Association high school district honor ensemble musician for band, chorus, jazz band, and jazz choir. She attended Illinois State University in Normal, IL, where she earned her Bachelor of Music Education Degree in 2004, and later attended Concordia University Chicago, earning her Master of Arts Degree in Educational Leadership in 2011. Ms. Giraldo has performed and worked under many world-renowned composers and conductors, including: Steven Steele, Dan Farris, Glenn Block, Colin Holman, Bruce Moss, David Maslanka, David Gillingham, Robert Sheldon, Andrew Boysen, Jr., Maestro Jose Hernandez, and many others.
Ms. Giraldo began her teaching career at Jewel Middle School in North Aurora, IL, where she taught beginning and middle school band lessons. In 2005, she was named the Director of Bands at Streamwood High School in Streamwood, IL. While at Streamwood High School, ensembles under Ms. Giraldo’s leadership won accolades and acknowledgments of excellence, concurrently growing the program from only 26 students to nearly 60 during her tenure in that role. Ms. Giraldo was a 2006 Sabre Golden Apple Award nominee, and won the same award in 2007. In 2010, Ms. Giraldo accepted the position as Director of Bands at Elgin High School in Elgin, IL. Ensembles at Elgin High School included two curricular concert bands as well as an extracurricular jazz band, a madrigal brass ensemble, a recorder choir, and the co-curricular pep band and marching band. These ensembles performed concerts and participated in adjudicated festivals throughout the Chicagoland area, garnishing many excellent and superior ratings. The Elgin High School band program grew from about 60 students when she started there to over 100 when she left to move into administration.
As a teacher, Ms. Giraldo was also an integral developer of the U-46 Mariachi program. She was trained by the esteemed Maestro Jose Hernandez of Mariachi Sol de Mexico and assisted in the development of a Mariachi curriculum, with scheduling performances, recruiting instructors, and building instrument and literature inventories for the program. She served as the Mariachi instructor at Larsen Middle School, in Elgin, IL, from 2010-2014.
Numerous students under Mrs. Giraldo’s direction have been selected, based on their individual talent, to perform in the Illinois Music Educators Association (ILMEA) District 9 Honors Bands and Honors Orchestras, the Fox Valley Music Festival Bands and Orchestras, with the United States Air Force Band of Mid-America, and with the United States Marine Jazz Band. Graduates of the Streamwood and Elgin High School band programs have excelled in the band programs at the University of Nebraska, Augustana College, the University of Chicago, Illinois State University, the University of Illinois, Northern Illinois University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, the University of Minnesota, and various other well-known universities, with several of those graduates pursuing careers in music performance or education.
Ms. Giraldo is currently engaged in coursework in pursuit of her Doctorate of Musical Arts in Music Education through Boston University. She and her husband, Darley, reside in Elgin, IL, with their two rambunctious shelter dogs, Candy and Gigi, and their two playful cats, Misty and Millie.