In 1927, the Dexter School announced it would not reopen before October after an outbreak of polio in Massachusetts.[9] In September, the family decided to move from Boston by "private railway car" to the Riverdale neighborhood of New York City.[10][11] Several years later, his brother Robert told Look magazine that his father had left Boston because of job signs that read: "No Irish Need Apply."[12] The family spent summers and early autumns at their home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, a village on Cape Cod, where they enjoyed swimming, sailing, and touch football.[13] Christmas and Easter holidays were spent at their winter retreat in Palm Beach, Florida.[14][15] Young John attended the Riverdale Country School – a private school for boys – from 5th to 7th grade, and was a member of Boy Scout Troop 2 in Bronxville, New York.[1][16] In September 1930, Kennedy, then 13 years old, was shipped off to the Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut, for 8th grade. In April 1931, he had an appendectomy, after which he withdrew from Canterbury and recuperated at home.[17]
In September 1931, Kennedy started attending Choate School, a prestigious preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. 