A federal judge yesterday told both sides in an ugly fight over school trips to tony Gramercy Park to stop acting like spoiled children, play nice, and strike a deal.
Parents of several black and Hispanic students are suing the park’s trustees after their children were thrown out of the historic square during a field trip last year.
They claim in their discrimination suit that they had been invited by the National Arts Club, which is entitled to use the park, but were asked to leave because of their color.
Manhattan federal court Judge Gerald Lynch issued a 17-page decision scolding the two sides for failing to work out an agreement.
Lynch said he hoped “the adult parties to the case . . . will not allow the rights of children to become counters in a struggle in which they have little stake.”
The judge said he hadn’t yet reached a decision, but “occasional supervised educational visits to this historical architectural and natural setting by neighborhood school children” should be allowed in some form.