The select event of the DropDownList passes an event argument e. One of the members of said argument is e.item.

Contrary to what every sane developer expects, e.item is *not* the dataItem of the datasource bound to the DropDownList, but the DOM element that represents the item visually.

The way to get to the data item is *undocumented*. Here's the necessary code:

domElem.kendoDropDownList({
    
    /*  ...  */

    select: function(e){
        var dataItem = e.sender.dataItem(e.item.index());
        // ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
    }
});


Please, PLEASE, pass the data item in the event argument.

I can't think of any case in which i would prefer the DOM element in the select handler over the data item.