diff --git a/core/static/webpack/core/components/ajax-select-base.ts b/core/static/webpack/core/components/ajax-select-base.ts
index de3fdfa8..0befd398 100644
--- a/core/static/webpack/core/components/ajax-select-base.ts
+++ b/core/static/webpack/core/components/ajax-select-base.ts
@@ -165,9 +165,8 @@ export abstract class AjaxSelect extends AutoCompleteSelectBase {
 
   connectedCallback() {
     /* Capture initial values before they get moved to the inner node and overridden by tom-select */
-    this.initialValues = Array.from(this.children)
-      .filter((child: Element) => child.tagName.toLowerCase() === "slot")
-      .map((slot) => JSON.parse(slot.innerHTML));
+    const initial = this.querySelector("slot[name='initial']")?.textContent;
+    this.initialValues = initial ? JSON.parse(initial) : [];
 
     super.connectedCallback();
   }
diff --git a/core/templates/core/widgets/autocomplete_select.jinja b/core/templates/core/widgets/autocomplete_select.jinja
index a051c202..1858cccd 100644
--- a/core/templates/core/widgets/autocomplete_select.jinja
+++ b/core/templates/core/widgets/autocomplete_select.jinja
@@ -9,5 +9,5 @@
   <optgroup label="{{ group_name }}">{% endif %}{% for widget in group_choices %}
     {% include widget.template_name %}{% endfor %}{% if group_name %}
       </optgroup>{% endif %}{% endfor %}
-{% for sel in selected %}<slot style="display: none">{{ sel }}</slot>{% endfor %}
+{% if initial %}<slot style="display:none" name="initial">{{ initial }}</slot>{% endif %}
 </{{ component }}>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/core/views/widgets/select.py b/core/views/widgets/select.py
index bd910059..bc5b2711 100644
--- a/core/views/widgets/select.py
+++ b/core/views/widgets/select.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ from django.contrib.staticfiles.storage import staticfiles_storage
 from django.db.models import Model
 from django.forms import Select, SelectMultiple
 from ninja import ModelSchema
+from pydantic import TypeAdapter
 
 from core.models import Group, SithFile, User
 from core.schemas import GroupSchema, SithFileSchema, UserProfileSchema
@@ -46,20 +47,22 @@ class AutoCompleteSelectMixin:
             "css": [staticfiles_storage.url(file) for file in self.css],
         }
         if self.is_ajax:
-            context["selected"] = [
-                self.schema.from_orm(obj).model_dump_json()
-                for obj in self.model.objects.filter(
-                    **{
-                        f"{self.pk}__in": [
-                            pk
-                            for pk in context["widget"]["value"]
-                            if str(
+            adapter = TypeAdapter(list[self.schema])
+            context["initial"] = adapter.dump_json(
+                adapter.validate_python(
+                    self.model.objects.filter(
+                        **{
+                            f"{self.pk}__in": [
                                 pk
-                            ).isdigit()  # We filter empty values for create views
-                        ]
-                    }
-                ).all()
-            ]
+                                for pk in context["widget"]["value"]
+                                if str(
+                                    pk
+                                ).isdigit()  # We filter empty values for create views
+                            ]
+                        }
+                    ).all()
+                )
+            ).decode("utf-8")
         return context