Negotiations went later than they have typically been going on Wednesday night as a deal between the SF Unified School District and the teachers' union remains elusive. And now kids may not be returning to the classroom until next Wednesday, with a long weekend ahead.

Around 50,000 schoolkids remain at home or in daycare Thursday for the fourth day in a row, as this historic San Francisco teachers' strike drags on. And with classes unlikely to resume Friday, it's looking likely that kids will be out of school until next Wednesday at the earliest, with President's Day on Monday, and Lunar New Year on Tuesday.

SF Mayor Daniel Lurie joined the negotiators for the first time Tuesday evening, as Mission Local reports, and left after two hours — posting this update to Instagram.

Also in attendance at the talks on Tuesday and possibly Wednesday as well was State Superintendent of Public Education Tony Thurmond, who is currently running for governor. Thurmond had offered his support to the negotiators earlier in the week — and the state still has the power to veto any potential deal that is reached, if it is fiscally untenable.

Unlike on Tuesday night, when union negotiators reportedly went home at 10 pm  just as the district said it was preparing its latest offer, the negotiations went later Wednesday night. NBC Bay Area reports that the bargaining lasted into the wee hours of Thursday, but still no deal has been reached.

As the Chronicle notes, both sides were offering conflicting versions of what happened, with the union apparently leaving the bargaining table at 1 am, and the district offering their latest proposal at 1:33 am. A district spokesperson issued a statement Thursday morning saying, "As of 8:00 am today, we are awaiting [the union’s] counter offer. The SFUSD bargaining team, comprised of veteran and expert professionals, are ready to meet with the union’s bargaining team to continue negotiations."

We do not know what the latest offer entails. Last we heard on Tuesday, the two sides remained two percentage points apart on a raise for full-time teachers — 6% over two years versus 8% over two years. Another stick point had to do with family healthcare, which the union wants to see fully funded.

The union, the United Educators of San Francisco, posted an update to Instagram Wednesday night saying, "We need to keep [up] our struggle; we need to go one day, one day longer, until we have the agreement for schools that our students deserve and that we know is possible. And that right now, the only things standing in the way are the district management and board of education that will not step up right and do what's right by our families."

Teachers were back on picket lines outside of schools at 8 am on Thursday, and also rallying outside Mission High School, and a rally is happening at Embarcadero Plaza at noon.

NBC Bay Area notes that the SFUSD is losing around $10 million per day in state funding for each day that schools are not operating.

Previously: District Blames SF Teachers' Union For Leaving the Bargaining Table Early Tuesday Night

Top image via UESF/Instagram