Marblehead and Beverly school districts blew past a court-imposed deadline to settle their teacher strikes and announced cancellation of school on Monday, but negotiators remained at the bargaining table long after dark in an effort to strike a deal.

The 6 p.m. deadline came and went without a deal in either community. Ultimately, school was canceled for Monday in both districts, though negotiators reported enough progress to keep at it well past 8 p.m.

The districts had been motivated to reach a deal this weekend after Essex County Superior Court Judge Janice Howe ordered Thursday that fines would be suspended if agreements were made by Sunday at 6 p.m. and school resumed Monday before Thanksgiving.

With teachers strikes illegal in Massachusetts, the unions are facing fines $50,000 a day with an escalation of  $10,000 for each day they remained on strike.

If a deal was not reached by the Sunday evening deadline, a third-party “fact finder” would be brought in.

Beverly School Committee Chair Rachael Abell released a statement at 6 p.m. saying the school committee was “encouraged” by negotiations and initially held off on calling school.

“At 5 p.m., the Beverly Teachers Association (BTA) leadership accepted our offer to conduct face-to-face negotiations to try to break the impasse and reach an agreement to end the strike,” Abell said. “Superintendent (Suzanne) Charochak, myself and the co-presidents of the BTA have exchanged new ideas and are in active discussions and express the School Committee’s sincere desire to get children back to school tomorrow.”

However a following statement from Abell at 8 p.m. said, “We again reiterate that there is a strong, fair proposal on the table for our educators. We hope they immediately come back to the table to accept it so we can reopen school tomorrow.” The district canceled school shortly after that.

The Marblehead Public Schools Superintendent announced around 6 p.m. Sunday that school would not reopen.

Negotiations in both communities after the school cancelations were announced.

Marblehead teachers held a press conference at 7:45 p.m, sharing that progress had been made but they did not yet have a contract in place.

“The MEA continues to demand that the School Committee end its pursuit of legal charges against individual educators related to the strike,” the Marblehead Education Association bargaining team said in a statement released at 6:19 p.m. on Sunday. “The MEA furthermore stresses the importance of reaching an agreement on return-to-work provisions that ensure no educators will be subject to retaliation for participating in the strike.”

Beverly teachers began their strike Nov. 8 with Marblehead following suit Nov. 12.

Gloucester teachers had also been on strike, but the district’s students will return to school Monday after the Gloucester School Committee reached a contract agreement Friday with the Union of Gloucester Educators.

Gloucester’s final deal included salary increases between $13,500 to $29,000 for teachers with a master’s degree in addition to “massive salary increases,” between 40% and 60%, for paraprofessionals.

On Tuesday, North Shore educators called on Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey’s and state lawmakers’ support amid negotiations.

“My focus right now is on getting students back in the classroom,” Healey said in a following statement. “It is unacceptable that school has been closed for more than a week in Marblehead, Gloucester and Beverly. I’m urging both parties to reach an agreement as soon as possible for the good of our kids, families, educators and staff.”