District officials in all three towns sent an email home to parents around 6 p.m. that schools across the Gloucester, Marblehead, and Beverly districts will be closed on Thursday4. After-school activities will also be canceled.

Marblehead parents filed a lawsuit protesting the suspension of extracurriculars during an ongoing teachers strike, as picket lines set up outside schools in three North Shore towns and tensions escalated Tuesday.

The Marblehead High School football team is supposed to play in the Division 4 quarterfinals on Thursday, but because of the teachers strike, the acting superintendent has called off games and extracurricular activities.

For the third straight day, classes for both Gloucester and Marblehead students will be canceled as the teachers union and city officials failed to reach a contract agreement. District officials in both towns sent an email home to parents around 6 p.