With the volunteering, I completely feel your pain. I live in s. Georgia, but I, too, filled out a form that went nowhere. As it is, filling out the form left things vague, so I wasn't even sure what I was volunteering for.
Those forms often do not go to your teacher at all. The teacher may collect them, but the forms go to the principal at the very least (or front office), and they might even be collected at the district level. With funding cuts everywhere, in every state, the people who handled these forms and coordinated volunteers may no longer have jobs. The positions may be spread out to other people and that may mean nobody's manning the fort, so to speak.
The district here has been dealing with the same. I went to a volunteer meeting (and this is where I filled out the background check form--it was never sent home, and they cannot do a background check without your written permission and SSN, etc.), and the district is trying to create a parent task force to streamline volunteering programs to make them parent-friendly, since the disorganization seems to be neglecting parents now, turning them away (so that they don't even fill out the form next year), or causing them to connect less to the school (and their student's performance/homework/etc.). I have the time, and I really want to be involved with the school system until my kids graduate completely, so I'm going to try to help with this... but that doesn't help Tampa, FL, where you are. I think this is a common problem for us parents, though.
Go ahead and check e-mail, but I would call. Or send a note in an envelope, with the teacher's name on it. The teachers are really busy, especially at the elementary level... no, at every level... good luck, and thanks for trying so hard to be involved! I hope the communication improves.