This answer is not relevant for particular recepient, but maybe useful for others. I had similiar issue with 'selecting' right 'option' by value returned from database. I solved it by adding additional tag with applied display:none.
<?php
$status = "NOT_ON_LIST";
$text = "<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<select id=\"statuses\">
<option value=\"status\" selected=\"selected\" style=\"display:none\">$status</option>
<option value=\"status\">OK</option>
<option value=\"status\">DOWN</option>
<option value=\"status\">UNKNOWN</option>
</select>
</body>
</html>";
print $text;
?>