jQuery Grid Plugin - jqGrid

I have a grid that allows editing via built in form.  two items are select boxes.  When user hits submit, all but the values for select inputs are posted to the server.  tried on two diff machines (linux and windows), same result.

code is: (fields are rowSts and rName)

$(document).ready(function(){
    jQuery("#userList").jqGrid({
        url:'/user/list?format=json',
        editurl:'/user/edituser?format=json',
        datatype: "json",
        colNames:[,'Username', 'Email', 'First Name','Last Name','Last Logon','Status','Role'],
        colModel:[
            {name:'id',index:'id', width:1,editable:false,editoptions:{readonly:true,size:1},hidden:true},
            {name:'uName',index:'uName', width:0,sortable:true,editable:true,editoptions:{size:30},editrules:{required:true}},
            {name:'uEmail',index:'uEmail', width:400,editable:true,editoptions:{size:30},sortable:true,editrules:{required:true,email:true}},
            {name:'fName',index:'fName', width:0,editable:true,editoptions:{size:20},sortable:true,editrules:{required:true}},
            {name:'lName',index:'lName', width:0,editable:true,editoptions:{size:20},sortable:true,editrules:{required:true}},
            {name:'lastLogon',index:'lastLogon', width:250,sortable:true,editable:false},
            {name:'rowSts',index:'rowSts', width:0,sortable:true,editable:true,edittype:"select",editoptions:{value:{'active':'Active','suspended':'Suspended','defunct':'Defunct'}},editrules:{required:true}},
            {name:'rName',index:'rName', width:0,editable:true,edittype:"select",editoptions:{value:"user:user;admin:admin"},sortable:true,editrules:{required:true}}
        ],
        rowNum:10,
        rowList:[10,20,30],
        pager: '#userListPager',
        sortname: 'uName',
        viewrecords: true,
        sortorder: "asc",
        caption:"System Users",
        autowidth:true,
        height:300,
        scroll:true,
        loadComplete:function(){gridOnLoad();},
        onSelectRow:function(){showEditRowButton();}
    });
    var grid = jQuery("#userList");

    jQuery("#btn-editRow").click(function(){
        var selectedRow = grid.jqGrid('getGridParam','selrow');
        if (selectedRow) {
            grid.jqGrid('editGridRow',grid.jqGrid('getRowData',selectedRow).id,_editOptions);
        } else {
            simplePopupMessage({title:"Oops!",message:"Please select a row to edit.",class:'negative'});
        }
    });

}

Dumping the incoming variables to the server reveals that the selectors are not present

$params array(10) {
 ["controller"] => string(4) "user"
 ["action"] => string(8) "edituser"
 ["module"] => string(7) "default"
 ["format"] => string(4) "json"
 ["uName"] => string(4) "test"
 ["uEmail"] => string(7) "a@b.com"
 ["fName"] => string(4) "Dave"
 ["lName"] => string(5) "Jones"
 ["oper"] => string(4) "edit"
 ["id"] => string(1) "6"
}

I'd appreciate any comments on why this might be.