The automated messaging system tries to detect whether a live person or an answering machine has picked up the call.

Sometimes, such as when a voicemail message contains a period of silence, the system will start to deliver the message prior to the beep.

In addition, a message may be cut off by an answering machine because its duration is longer than the machine allows for a single message.

Generally an answering machine will cut off a message after one minute. The district and schools strive to keep messages under one minute in part for this reason.