As the Chicago Teachers Union and city leaders each praised “progress” made at the bargaining table the night before, the teachers’ strike entered its fourth day Sunday; Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Saturday she’d be “surprised” if a deal can be hammered out in time for classes to resume Monday.

After talks ended without a deal Saturday, CTU president Jesse Sharkey and vice president Stacy Davis Gates where scheduled to return to Malcolm X College Sunday to continue contract talks.

Saturday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot visited a West Side youth development group’s basketball program — and students took a break from shooting hoops to ask when their schools will reopen.

“I think if we really work hard at it, we could get a deal done this weekend,” Lightfoot told them.

But speaking to reporters afterward, the mayor said she would be “very surprised if classes are going to be open on Monday.”

“We remain hopeful that we will continue to see some progress, even if it’s incremental, but we’ve got to be at the table in order to get a deal done,” Lightfoot said. “Every single day [students] are not in school is a problem.”

Asked when an agreement would need to be reached Sunday in order for teachers to be back in the classroom Monday, Sharkey acknowledged it would take time for delegates to conference with their members and schedule a vote, but wouldn’t say if he expected the strike to continue after the weekend.

“I really do believe that if there’s will and resources we can get a fast agreement here, but it requires those two things,” Sharkey said. “Things would need to be pretty dramatic, I guess, to meet that, but I don’t want to foreclose that as a possibility.”

Davis Gates said bargaining had resulted in movement on the key issues for the union, including “tentative agreements on eight different items.” Two issues she said progress were made on were the hiring and retention of teachers of color and a moratorium on opening new charter schools.

“Everything is moving. We’re having substantive discussions. There’s nothing that we’re locked away from at this point,” Davis Gates said. “We spent a lot of time hearing ‘no’ from CPS, months [of] hearing no from them. We’re not hearing ‘no’ anymore.

“We’re spending a lot of time reading what they’ve offered and evaluating its impact on our school communities,” she said.

However, Sharkey said enforcement of the provisions in any agreement was still a sticking point at the bargaining table.

“A provision where there’s a promise to hire, but there’s no mechanism for what happens if that promise isn’t kept, that’s not so good for us,” Sharkey said. “We have bitter experience with what happens if we can’t actually enforce the stuff that we have.”

In a statement Saturday night, Lightfoot said the city was still waiting to receive “full, written counteroffers” from the union on class size and staffing, which she said the union has identified as essential to an agreement. Lightfoot called for the negotiations to move faster and said the city’s team has “has been turning around thoughtful counteroffers at a rapid pace.”

“We are hopeful that CTU will meet that pace tomorrow so we can bring this process to a fair and responsible end,” Lightfoot wrote.

Teachers walked off the job Thursday, wiping out two days of classes, sports and other activities for 300,000 Chicago Public Schools students.

The ongoing talks followed a rally in the morning by teachers and support staffers clad in red and purple at Douglas Park, where they were joined by unionized health care staff from across the street at Mount Sinai Hospital. The Mount Sinai workers promised to help keep pressure on the city to negotiate what they say will be a “fair contract” for students and school workers across Chicago.

“We believe that employers in Chicago have a moral responsibility to provide good jobs to every worker and to support healthy, vibrant neighborhoods everywhere — not just on the North Side,” said Gregory Kelley, president of SEIU Healthcare. “That’s why we’re standing in solidarity to say it’s time to respect all Chicagoans and invest in all of our kids, healthcare workers and neighborhoods to close the racial gap in this city.”

Jennifer Eggener, who has taught at Collins Academy High School in Douglas Park for the past 11 years, said that schools need more resources to help students deal with trauma.

“I’ve visited too many students who are in the hospital due to gun violence. I’ve attended way too many students’ funerals,” Eggener said. “My heart can’t take it anymore.”

Dennis Kosuth, a CPS nurse, said he works at three schools — down from the six he managed last year. Still, he said it’s “impossible” to manage the case load.

“What we have now is not a safe situation for our students, and that’s what we’re fighting for,” Kosuth said.

A handful of elected officials showed up to support CTU and other workers throughout the city. Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin, who called herself a “product of Chicago Public Schools,” said teachers were striking for the students’ best interests.

“We demand that our children be treated the same as anyone else [and] receive a fair and equitable education,” Conyears-Ervin said.

“I’m going to advocate for everybody. I hope you advocate for yourself, your students, your community, everything. Because no one is going to give you anything. You have to take it.” -@KarenLewisCTU #iftstrong pic.twitter.com/vYB3r0WAYk — IL Fed. of Teachers (@iftaft) October 19, 2019

During the rally, union leaders Sharkey and Davis Gates were attending part of a weekend Illinois Federation of Teachers convention in Rosemont. They were there to support former CTU president Karen Lewis, who retired last year due to health issues, as she received an honor from the federation.